Security woes

It was my 4th day on the job as a security officer yesterday, and I still have not gotten my second set of uniform from the office! The manager actually promised to send it yesterday!

That's not all. The job sucks. It has nothing to do with the nature of the job, which is to guard the premises of a condominium complex. In fact, if things are done properly, it could be a great job! Unfortunately, the people I work with a jerks.

First, I arrived at work only to find my umbrella (the one I left at the guard house) missing! It wasn't the value of the umbrella but the fact that something could go missing in the guard house which pissed me off. I mean nobody but the guards are allowed entry into the guard house, and security guards are supposed to be in charge of Lost & Found items. So how one earth could my umbrella go 'missing' in the guard house? It really pissed me off because as as security officer, I consider the guard house to be a sanctuary and as secure as a police post. It really is disappointing when you can't trust the people you work with.

Anyway, I made a Lost & Found report myself and threatened to go to the cops. The supervisor thought I was making a fuss over nothing and told me so. Obviously he didn't share my belief that security guards are supposed to be honest and that if anything gets stolen in the guard house, it is a most serious breach of security indeed.

Later, the day got worse. We were supposed to have 3 guards on duty. However, one of them received a call from a girl at 9am and left for the day. He returned at 3pm and disappeared for a while. I later found out that he went off to meet a girl (another one?) at some time past 3pm. He never returned for the day. BUT my supervisor signed him in and out! AND I had to stay in the guard house and do the work! It just isn't fair! I mean, come on, I don't mind if people come back a little late from lunch but going off for 11 hours out of your 12 hour shift to meet girls AND still get paid for a full day's work is just RIDICULOUS!!! My supervisor not only allowed this yesterday but also for the day before yesterday when the other guard had to go meet another girl (his sister supposedly) for like 5-6 hours. Yesterday, my supervisor disappeared for hours for 'patrol', but he told me he was taking a nap somewhere in the car park.

Perhaps they're testing you as you are new to them, some employers and colleagues do little 'pranks' to new people and as time goes on they settle in to the team no problems. If it does continue then speak to a manager about it, it's unfair for you to work in an environment like this. How did work go today?

Yeah, I understand some places do that to newbies. However I think the things going on at that place are more malicious than the usual pranking.

For starters, the senior guards have been disappearing from work since 1st November. Actually they have been doing it far long as far as I can tell, but I remember 1st November because it was my birthday and that was the first time I needed one of them around but couldn't find him. At around 4-ish in the afternoon, a resident of the condominium complex needed the gym access card but I did not know where it was. Remembering that the senior guard was the last one to handle the card, I tried radioing for him. But he was nowhere to be found. The supervisor kept very quiet. It was only later at around 8pm when we were getting off work that the supervisor told me that the senior guard had some sort of 'sister emergency' so he had to leave at around 4pm. The senior guard did not even return to sign out. AND he was clocked as having worked a full day!

What happened on 2nd of November you guys already knew (see above), and on the 3rd of November, things got worse. I saw the supervisor with an umbrella that looked exactly like the one I lost! But he told everyone that his umbrella was an old gift (even though the color looked fresh) that has been in his family for years. Well, it could be true, I concede. I just find it suspicious that this new umbrella turned up right after I lost mine...

That day, the senior guard did not report for work until 10.30am, and we were supposed to be there at 8am. Yet, he was paid for a full day's work. And I had to lie to the office that all 3 of us were present for work at 8am. Because the supervisor was sitting right behind as I answered the phone... gods.... I feel so bad for lying!

Then on the 4th, the same shit (lateness and disappearing acts) went on... And I still haven't got my second set of uniform.

It's ashame you are having your ideals shattered like this but in my experience that's usually the way things work (or more precisely why things don't work). The supervisor flaunting the umberella in front of you is hopefully just a bit of a prank because you are new to the place. On the bright side it sounds like getting time off if ever you needed to shouldn't be a problem. Best of luck with the job and hope your situation there improves. I'd just give it a bit of time if I was you.:smile:

It was Day 11 on the job yesterday and things were still bad. The 2 other guards were still doing their disappearing acts. On the 9th of November, the senior guard (not the supervisor) went off at around 1.30pm and never came back. Not even to sign out at the end of the shift at 8pm.

I got rather confrontational yesterday (Day 11) when the manager came in and told us to screen each taxi coming into the premises thoroughly using the software he provided. We have never done that before. Of course we would take down the taxi's license plate number each time they enter our premises, but we do it by hand and key in the data later when the traffic is less heavy. Considering that the other 2 old farts are not trained in touch typing and that if we follow the exact procedure laid down by the software, it would cause long delays at the gate and the residents are not used to that! Because no one has ever attempted that before. I have no idea why the manager chose yesterday to lay down the law for us.

I won't go into the technical details here but will just say it sucked. Because I was scolded and given dark looks by both taxi drivers and residents of the condominium. Like I said, they never had to deal with the stupid delays. Because it used to be much faster when we just waved them through and took down the license plate numbers by hand (and key it in later). Security isn't necessary better with the software because the delays were caused by slow typing speed and not because we were spending more time screening the taxis.

I wanted to resign today after I cashed in my pay check, but decided to negotiate with the company by asking for a transfer. The agency manager (not the condominium manager who introduced the stupid screening system) agreed to transfer me to other sites, so I agreed to return to the condominium for another day of work tomorrow.

Wow. This job I actually stayed on longer than the other jobs I did recently. A good sign I would say. And I am closer to getting enough money for my Euro tour! Just a few more pay checks to go! Which is another reason why I decided against resigning right now.